Posted March 02, 2014
ktchong: As a Chinese in America, this new development is actually a good new for me.
The fact is Americans always have to have an enemy. Americans always have to hate on some foreign "evil": the Russians, or the Muslims, or the illegal Mexicans, or Chinese. Americans also have very limited attention span, so they can only focus on hating one particular enemy at a time. Just before 9/11 happened, China - and Chinese by association - were the target for American jingoism. The US media was hating on China. Everyone in America (the white majority) was bashing China. Chinese in American -- even Chinese who were born outside China and had never been to China -- often felt under siege. I often had to pretend to be Korean so I did not have to deal with the hostility and suspicions, (and because my last name is "Chong", which could also be a Korean last name, so I could get away with telling people that I was Korean.)
On 9/11 when Muslim terrorists flew a plane into the Twin Towers, I actually felt... relief. I immediately knew Americans would redirect all their hatred towards Muslims and Arabs, which was good for me. That meant Americans would be too busy hating on Muslims/Arabs to be bothered with with China/Chinese. And I was correct. For years, America has focused their hatred and hostility towards Muslims and Arabs, and they have mostly left Chinese alone. However, in the past two to three years, America has started shifting its attention back to China again. Which has really made me feel uneasy.
Now that Russians will become America's enemy no. 1 again, I feel like Chinese in America have dodged another bullet. So yippie for me. It will suck to be "Ruskies" in America, but that won't be my problem. Hey, as long as it's not me.
I have not met one single American all my life who hates Chinese people or fears them. I think you encountering Americans in this country who hate you or fear you because you are Chinese could be you just having some bad luck in your life. And you sound like a sociopath for saying "On 9/11 when Muslim terrorists flew a plane into the Twin Towers, I actually felt... relief." A lot of innocent people died in horrible ways when that happened... Burned alive or forced to commit suicide by jumping out of windows and falling to their deaths to avoid being burned alive... Of course, if you go around talking like a sociopath, a lot of Americans are going to fear you or hate you. Yes, a lot of Americans hate Muslims. Yes, a lot of Americans hate Russians. But Chinese people? No way. In fact, several big American movies were edited to prevent the Chinese from looking bad. In fact, no anti Chinese propaganda is made here in the USA because the USA doesn't want to piss off the Chinese market. For example, the latest Red Dawn movie. In the original story they had, the villains were the Chinese. They decided they don't want to piss off the Chinese market so they picked the North Koreans to be the villains of the story. Making the movie extremely stupid because North Korea could never invade the USA.The fact is Americans always have to have an enemy. Americans always have to hate on some foreign "evil": the Russians, or the Muslims, or the illegal Mexicans, or Chinese. Americans also have very limited attention span, so they can only focus on hating one particular enemy at a time. Just before 9/11 happened, China - and Chinese by association - were the target for American jingoism. The US media was hating on China. Everyone in America (the white majority) was bashing China. Chinese in American -- even Chinese who were born outside China and had never been to China -- often felt under siege. I often had to pretend to be Korean so I did not have to deal with the hostility and suspicions, (and because my last name is "Chong", which could also be a Korean last name, so I could get away with telling people that I was Korean.)
On 9/11 when Muslim terrorists flew a plane into the Twin Towers, I actually felt... relief. I immediately knew Americans would redirect all their hatred towards Muslims and Arabs, which was good for me. That meant Americans would be too busy hating on Muslims/Arabs to be bothered with with China/Chinese. And I was correct. For years, America has focused their hatred and hostility towards Muslims and Arabs, and they have mostly left Chinese alone. However, in the past two to three years, America has started shifting its attention back to China again. Which has really made me feel uneasy.
Now that Russians will become America's enemy no. 1 again, I feel like Chinese in America have dodged another bullet. So yippie for me. It will suck to be "Ruskies" in America, but that won't be my problem. Hey, as long as it's not me.
Post edited March 02, 2014 by monkeydelarge